The Great Green Wall is ambitious in scope, but composed of relatively simple parts: capturing rain-water with berms, planting the right kinds of plants in the right order, and creating a system of ecologically sound incentives for people to participate in the project. It's wonderful to learn about.<p>Andrew Millison, the creator of the linked YouTube video, has an interesting channel where he essentially showcases applications of / advances in ecological technology (i.e., permaculture.) I take some solace in the fact that his videos get millions of views; suggesting that permaculture / ecological design principles aren't some fringe-y thing any more.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Green_Wall_(Africa)#Risk_of_collapse" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Green_Wall_(Africa)#Risk...</a><p>> As of 2023, the Great Green Wall was reported as "facing the risk of collapse" due to terrorist threats, absence of political leadership, and insufficient funding. “The Sahel countries have not allocated any spending in their budgets for this project. They are only waiting on funding from abroad, whether from the European Union, the African Union, or others.” said Issa Garba, an environmental activist from Niger, who also described the 2030 guideline as an unattainable goal. Amid the existing stagnation, a growing number of voices have called for scrapping the project.
Further discussion here:
<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39466851">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39466851</a>
Nearly all of the Algerian Saharan territory is surrounded by state made wall (dune) of 2-5 meters high.<p>Morocco also has similar and several walls: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Western_Sahara_Wall" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_Western_Sahara_Wall</a><p>If there is money and resources to build and maintain such walls, there should be more will and good intentions to build green walls which are more useful.
Q: As an outsider, how is one to tell if this approach is the right one?<p>There seems to be a certain amount of dissent.<p>"Mass tree-planting programs in the desert often cause lasting damage to the ecosystems they are purportedly trying to repair."
<a href="https://www.noemamag.com/if-the-desert-was-green/" rel="nofollow">https://www.noemamag.com/if-the-desert-was-green/</a><p>"Israel’s Yatir Forest has been hailed as a green refuge in the Negev that is helping fight climate change. But some Israeli ecologists now contend that it has wiped out important desert ecosystems and shows that forestation projects are not always an unalloyed environmental good."
<a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/in-israel-questions-are-raised-about-a-forest-that-rises-from-the-desert" rel="nofollow">https://e360.yale.edu/features/in-israel-questions-are-raise...</a>
My question is are there downstream effects? The planting techniques are fascinating but the water that they are capturing surely was going some where, right? However little the stream may be, how do they do this without messing up people who are downstream?
A lot of interesting takes in the comments where growing more plants will somehow cause ecological disaster. The only exception I can see is diverting water to support it. Otherwise, I have never heard such a thing.
Reminds me of the proposal to flood the Qattara sea: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35957814">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35957814</a>
It seems crazy to me that after we've had so many unintended consequences preventing earth's natural processes using technology, the same crowd is now celebrating using technology to prevent yet another of earth's natural processes. Regardless of your position on the Sahara desert, it's been growing since Roman times.<p>Personally, I'm in favor of the use of technology to affect the planet, but it seems to me that the public reception to these ideas is mostly around who's doing the deed. Often, when someone in a rich country proposes something like this, the argument will be something about capitalism. However, when a poor country does it, despite it also being about wealth at the end of the day, it's lauded. Now again, I'm totally in favor of all these efforts and totally understand why people do it. It's just a duality I've noticed; and I'm not sure what to think about it.